"As soon as Christians recognize that they have failed in their service, that their readiness has become feeble, that they have sinned..., that all their joy in God has vanished and that their capacity for prayer has quite gone, it is high time for them to launch an assault upon the flesh, and prepare for better service by fasting and prayer.
Any objection that asceticism is wrong, and that all we need is faith, is quite beside the point; it is cruel to suggest such a thing, and it is no help to us at all. When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh. How is it possible to live the life of faith when we grow weary in prayer, when we lose our taste for reading the Bible, and when sleep, food and sensuality deprive us of the joy of communion with God?"
No Greater Love: Lenten Meditations
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